‘The riders are superhuman, but they do feel pain’
Dr Michele Zasa is the man in charge of fixing injured MotoGP riders. Zasa took over MotoGP’s Clinica Mobile from its founder, Dr Claudio Costa. Earlier, Zasa worked with the East Anglia air-ambulance service, bringing pre-hospital emergency treatment to
“I LIKE TO WORK IN FASCINATING
places with extreme environments. In MotoGP I have two lives: one is the rush of adrenaline I get when I reach the side of a rider who’s had a bad crash; the other is my job inside the Clinica, which is a bit like being a normal doctor, helping riders with flu and gastroenteritis, as well as with broken bones, dislocations and so on.
“I have the most beautiful job in the world, but also it can be a terrible job. When I worked with the air ambulance, I’d get to the accident site where people had very bad injuries and could die, but I didn’t know them, so I just used my training and did my job. Here in MotoGP it’s totally different. I was there with Marco Simoncelli after his accident and with Luis Salom in the hospital resus room after his crash; it was really, really bad. I started working in the Clinica in 2011, so I’d only known Marco for a few months, but I knew Luis very well. Over six years we grew up together as rider and doctor. He was always in the Clinica, always joking.
“I think when most people think of the Clinica, they think of riders suffering and crying, but most of the time the riders are lying down, getting a massage, laughing and joking with each other. Sure, they sometimes have to struggle with the pain, but they get the reward after the race.
“The massage is their relax time, when they get spoilt, but also the massage can help reduce injury in a crash, because their skeleton and muscles will be more flexible.
“I know the riders are superhuman but they do feel pain and they don’t want to feel it. Even if they have a special switch and a higher pain threshold, when they break five bones, for sure they feel pain. Adrenaline helps a lot; they may have pain but when they get on the bike, the rush of adrenaline overcomes the pain, at least until they stop riding.
“I think it’s their motivation that makes the biggest difference. They are highly motivated to do what they do, so even though they feel the pain, they always think about getting back on the bike. The best riders I know are the most motivated — when they get hurt they don’t take a month off, instead they wait five minutes and then they want to get back on the bike.
“Their talent makes them champions, but their motivation to let pain and other problems pass them by is vital. Also, they need to be selfish and a bit arrogant because they must concentrate on themselves, always thinking of their best interests.
“MotoGP is a dangerous sport but some of the riders don’t take so many risks. Usually, the older they get, the less risks they take because they get wiser. Look at Valentino. He almost never takes excessive risks unless it’s absolutely necessary. Jorge took a lot of risks when he was young but now he is much more consistent and always considers the risk. In MotoGP you can’t just be fast and talented, you also need to be smart to manage each race and each season without taking too many risks.
“I don’t think many of them think about getting injured, otherwise they’d have to stop. They are fatalistic: if it’s going happen, it’s going to happen. You can have a bad accident on the way to work. At least here they are doing what they love.”